Candidates get crash course on local facility's role in nation's defense

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Sarah Davidson, 19, votes in her first election on the first day of early voting on Tuesday, July 10, 2018 at the Licking County Board of Elections. A special election is being held between republican candidate Troy Balderson and democratic candidate Danny O'Connor to replace Rep. Patrick Tiberi in OhioÕs 12th Congressional district. Election Day is Tuesday, Aug. 7. Sara C. Tobias, Sara C. Tobias/The Advocate

Barbara Lechner, of Granville, holds a sign for democratic congressional candidate Danny O'Connor towards traffic on South 2nd Street as the candidate addresses voters on the square during the first day of early voting. O'Connor visited six counties to campaign for the special election to replace Rep. Patrick Tiberi in OhioÕs 12th Congressional district. O'Connor is running against republican Troy Balderson. Voting started at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, July 10, 2018 at the Licking County Board of Elections. Election Day is Tuesday, Aug. 7. Sara C. Tobias, Sara C. Tobias/The Advocate

Democratic congressional candidate Danny O'Connor addresses voters on the Court House square in Newark during the first day of early voting. O'Connor visited six counties to campaign for the special election to replace Rep. Patrick Tiberi in OhioÕs 12th Congressional district. O'Connor is running against republican Troy Balderson. Voting started at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, July 10, 2018 at the Licking County Board of Elections. Election Day is Tuesday, Aug. 7. Sara C. Tobias, Sara C. Tobias/The Advocate

Levi Griffith, Licking County field organizer for democratic candidates, talks to voters during an event held by Congressional candidate Danny O'Connor on the Court House square in Newark during the first day of early voting. O'Connor visited six counties to campaign for the special election to replace Rep. Patrick Tiberi in OhioÕs 12th Congressional district. O'Connor is running against republican Troy Balderson. Voting started at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, July 10, 2018 at the Licking County Board of Elections. Election Day is Tuesday, Aug. 7. Sara C. Tobias, Sara C. Tobias/The Advocate

HEATH – The candidates for Ohio's 12th Congressional District received a crash course this week on the importance of Heath's Central Ohio Aerospace and Technology Center to the nation's defense industry and the community.

Troy Balderson, 56, a Republican state senator from Zanesville, and Danny O'Connor, 31, a Democrat from Clintonville and the Franklin County recorder, toured the Bionetics laboratories in the Boeing Building at the COATC campus.

Voters will choose O'Connor, Balderson or Green Party candidate Joe Manchik in an Aug. 7 special election to replace Republican Pat Tiberi in Congress.

Rick Platt, executive director of the Heath-Newark-Licking County Port Authority, which oversees the COATC campus, said the continuing goal is to keep local, state and federal officials informed about the importance of keeping the defense work here.

The site is no longer the Newark Air Force Base, which closed in 1996, but much of the work remained through private companies working for the Air Force.

The guidance system repair work remains here at Boeing and its subcontractors, and the metrology work remains at Bionetics and the Air Force Metrology and Calibration Program. Boeing employs 450 and Bionetics has 97.

“It’s like preventive medicine," Platt said. "You don’t know what you’ve prevented. It’s just crucial. The base closure taught us we need to save the base every day.”

Platt said the candidates for governor will also be invited, although both Republican Mike DeWine and Democrat Richard Cordray have already visited the campus.

Balderson, who visited Friday morning, said, "I had no clue when I got here what to expect. That's why I wanted to see it. It's very impressive, the precise detail of calibration, and the amount of jobs they provide and the diversity of those jobs."

O'Connor, who toured the facility on Monday, said, "It's a uniquely-talented workforce here. Something that can’t be replicated other places. It's as much of a commitment to excellence as you’ll see anywhere and folks that we need to continue to invest in, as a country.”

Heath Mayor Mark Johns said, "It's good-paying, highly-technical, safe, clean jobs right here in this community. They're huge assets to the community. It's important you understand that because we want to do everything to support what they do here. It's a constant 'save the base' attitude."

O'Connor said taking a test on all the technical information provided on the tour would be a challenge.

"It'd be like physics class in high school," O'Connor said. "I think I might do all right, but I might need some time to study for it."

Balderson said he appreciates the education he received from representatives of Bionetics, Boreing and AFMETCAL.

"This will help a lot," Balderson said. "It's real important I'm aware of this, and that's why we did this. And, building relationships. That's the key."

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Troy Balderson (right) the Republican candidate for the 12th Congressional District, tours the Bionetics labs Friday at the Boeing Building on the Central Ohio Aerospace and Technology Center campus in Heath. Matthew Denslow (left) training and customer manager for Bionetics, led the tour.(Photo: Kent Mallett/The Advocate)

Both candidates were shown construction on a two-story, 4,000 square foot addition to the building for Bionetics labs. The project costs $1.8 million and the addition will house $6.8 million in equipment, including a dead weight machine that weighs 125,000 pounds and measures up to 102,000 pounds.

Platt said the project should be done by the first quarter of 2019. The Air Force will pay for 70 percent of the equipment, while the Port Authority will contribute 30 percent.

Johns said the precision work must remain here, the second-most seismically stable area in the country, with sensitive work performed up to four stories underground in the Boeing building. Moving the Air Force's sensitive metrology, calibration and inertial guidance system to another location would be time-consuming and costly, officials said.

"It's important to Ohio and the Defense Department the work stays here," John said. "But that doesn't mean somebody in D.C. couldn't make the wrong decision. We bang the drum loudly why this is critical to the nation's defense."

Licking County Commissioner Rick Black told Balderson, "We're going to keep reminding you how important we are out here."